The board have decided to create this thread in order to be able to find Sauli's new official blog posts easily. For the time being, will post the English language versions , with thanks to the dedicated translators) and links to Sauli's original posts.

My very own webpages! Totally insane! I’ve travelled out into the wide world from a small country and a small town, and I almost can’t believe that you are here reading my thoughts! On my pages I ‘m gonna tell you about the everyday life and festivities of a Finn-boy in Los Angeles. Every once in a while, besides the lifestyle things, I will concentrate on my dressing style and sometimes I might even interview other people who have wandered from Finland to America. There will also be pictures and videos which you can’t see anywhere else. I’ll start now first with a blog and my mother tongue, but who knows, the contents might increase into something more in the future… You see, you never know about life, as you surely can see from my story!

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

YAY!! Finally I got my new web pages open!! I’ll be telling here almost daily about my activities and about all the exciting things that are going on here at this side of the world. I’ll try to post here also some videos, and of course pictures. I’ve been living here in LA now almost for a year and this year has been the best time of my life. The year has included amazing experiences, long flights, big risks, red carpets, and also that usual everyday life.

A year ago I was still working for my dad in Finland, shoveling down snow from the roof of the VR engineering shop. I remember that snow shoveling job because the money I got as a salary from that job, paid for my first trips to this side of the world. I can’t say that I miss that job, but it’s a fond memory now. A couple of months with fingers and whole body frozen, with a shovel in hand… whoah!! However, now I get to live happily here under the Californian sun and I’ve really begun to feel at home here. It still does have its’ price since I left my family, friends and my whole own life back in Finland. Creating new contacts in a foreign country seemed pretty difficult and time-consuming at first, but now I’m just smiling and happy about the new winds of life and wonderful friends at this end.

Many people have asked me, how do you get from BB to live in Hollywood… This question amuses me, since my victory in BB and me now living in Hollywood are two totally different things. I’d rather say that from the till at Hesburger to Hollywood and everything that’s there in between has led me here. I believe in destiny as well as in karma. Life is full of choices, but finding the right ones isn’t necessarily always so easy. Here’s a good saying in which I believe: “People always blame circumstances for the situation they are in. People who move forward in this world, are those who get up and find the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they will create them!”

Seems like we had some really deep stuff here right away in the first blog, but I hope that everyone understand that life isn’t always just flying up in the clouds. Thus, I hope that I can make people smile and into good mood with this blog.

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

The past two weeks have been just all about galas and Thanksgiving. Those mysterious red carpets, and how you are supposed to act on them must surely interest many people. I myself have been there just walking briskly behind my partner, but for sure, there’s always that “little” excitement thing present when you are there. Often I’ve wondered what would happen if you just stumbled on your own feet or had a horrible panic attack. I really would like to film this situation some time and show you how many photographers there are hovering around. For example, in the AMA (American Music Awards) press conference there were hundreds of camera men and reporters. Usually those press conferences run through at a quick pace, and there is always a lot of shuffling going on. Many stars do arrive pretty late there, and that always causes the last minute chaos. So, for sure it isn’t the easiest carpet to walk on, and it’s no wonder if your jaw starts to shake a bit and hands sweat. Whoa!

AMA was an absolutely insane experience! I’ve never in my life seen so many famous world stars around me. Those stages and halls always look so huge when you see them from your own couch, but in reality they are much smaller. It is a funny thing how much and how many wonders you can do with lights and effects. It is also amazing how small all the artists and actors look in reality. Nicki Minaj was such a tiny woman that I was totally amazed, and Justin Bieber was small as a pinkie. Hah! Hopefully I will be able tell you about these experiences also in the future. This Finn-boy has his head sometimes so dizzy from this all that can’t do anything else but wonder .

Luckily the life here also is that familiar and safe everyday living. Thanksgiving Day is also behind and the belly is that much bigger. Now starts Sauli’s three-day juice fast. Bye!

xoxo

/S

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

It’s so great that these pages have gotten such a wonderful start – I’m still totally pumped up about these!! YAY! However, a big thank belongs to you readers!! I’ve been reading your wonderful comments and gotten lots of energy from them as well as ideas about what I want to tell you. Thank you! You have named these pages to a “Christmas calendar” and that gave me the idea of putting here a new picture for each day right until the 24th. Of course, I will continue posting pictures here also in the future, but now in the beginning let’s go just with this Christmas calendar theme. Yippee, this is gonna be fun!!

Next week I’m gonna answer a bit more also to your questions and I am going to write a specific blog about them. Keep on posting more questions about what you want to know for example about LA or anything. I will not necessarily comment on very personal questions, as I do have to have my own skeletons in the closet and I have to save a bit of privacy. I could also go through the changes in my hair style during the years gone by in next week’s blogs. Help!! I can guarantee: you will be shocked!! Hah! I’m pretty sure I can find a picture related to this idea for every day in my Christmas calendar.

In my opinion this is an awesome way to get to talk about my personal thoughts and write about them personally. Interviews do have the downside that sometimes things get totally turned upside down in them. Some papers have the habit of writing the stories in such a way and giving them such headlines that you can’t make any sense of them even yourself. That’s one reason I’ve been keeping quite a tight line regarding the interviews and that’s how I prefer it. Nevertheless, yesterday I attended the Finnish Big Brother Extra as a guest by telephone and tried to analyze the housemates as best I could, but I totally ran out of time. I still had a million and hundred things in my head that I would have liked to talk about. It’s annoying that I didn’t have time to talk more, but there’s nothing you can do about it.

Now this Elf-Koskinen is heading out to do some Christmas shopping! I’m trying to find some Turtles-toys for my godson but I’m not sure if they are available anywhere anymore… So off I go searching! Till tomorrow!xoxo/S

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Hello!! As I said, I did go to do some Christmas shopping yesterday, but unfortunately I didn’t find those Turtles-figures anywhere. I think these teenage mutant ninja turtles are starting to be a thing of the past by now. I found all kinds of other nice things though. I was shopping at a warehouse called Costco, where they sell every kind of stuff between heaven and earth. That place is just INSANELY huge! It can be compared to the Finnish wholesale stores to the power of 100! You can just imagine that when everything is always a lot bigger in America, in that place everything is extremely overly big! Whoa! There were free samples to taste at the end of each shelf and behind every corner, and I was popping everything into my mouth - from cheesecake to pizza pieces… so there goes my fast! Hah! Seriously, I was so totally stuffed when I got out of that “little” shop. I did manage to buy some good presents for my nephews and of course, I did get quite a lot of stuff for myself as well.

Hey, wonderful - you've been leaving all those questions for me, I promise to get more into them next week! I also promise to shock you with my old “fabulous” hair styles. Yay!

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Today I’m going to do just nothing! Sundays are dedicated for resting and just loafing around. The sun is shining and the temperature here is +22 C! I can say that it really doesn’t feel one bit like Christmas! Hah!! Christmas carols are being played in the shops and Christmas lights are hanging from the palm trees, but Christmas really isn’t anything without snow and frost. However, I’m not going to complain about the weather at this end!

Don’t be surprised that I’m always writing about the previous day, as the time difference here is 10 hours behind (= behind Finnish time) and in addition it takes a while for the blogs to be updated to the site. That’s why my stories come with a little delay to the blog.

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

This is a very important day for all the Finnish people and that’s why I too decided to celebrate this special day here in LA. I’m going today to a party in Beverly Hills organized by the Finnish Consulate. There will be a lot of Finns who live here around the LA area. I’m so excited, since it’s not often that here are parties with a Finnish theme. Besides, in this party I’m not the avec, but this invitation came specifically to me! Hah!!

I was just thinking about what I would be doing today if I were in Finland? Most likely we would organize a viewing party and follow the Independence Day Reception from the TV. Watching the reception from TV is probably a tradition for lots of Finns. Probably the most important reason why everybody’s watching this event are the dresses. At least I follow the Reception because of the dresses, as you have to admit that otherwise the program is pretty boring and sluggish. No? We’ll see who will the one to shock people with his/her outfit this year. Hmm… I doubt that I will ever be invited to this party as the President’s guest, but you can always wish!

Being Finnish is for me a much bigger thing than all these parties, though. For me it is important to respect your roots and appreciate freedom. That’s the way it is - I can always go away from Finland but Finland will never go away from me. These songs are playing in my head today too, so greetings to the home-Finland! - Finnish national anthem: “Oi maamme” with English lyrics- “Finlandia hymn” by Finland’s national composer Jean Sibelius with winter pictures from Finland.

(Apparently the first snow came down today in Finland? I guess there isn’t yet as much snow as in the pics in this video, hah )

Oh boy, I almost got totally absorbed in these pictures and videos from Finland! But now this guy is going to start ironing his suit, and then I’m heading towards Beverly Hills before I start missing snow and rye bread! I will tell you about the party in my blog on Thursday and I will also include some pictures. And in tomorrow’s blog there will be answers to your questions! The answers will include some more Finnish stuff and lots of other things. Yay!!

xoxo/S

P.S. Do you think I would be allowed to the Reception in this kind of a royal gala outfit?

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Translation by @miachihu and @tiiqquNote: There are a couple of things that were written in English by Sauli, they've been marked with English.

Oh dear, you have written so many questions to me!! There are so many that unfortunately I can’t answer all of them, but here are at least quite a lot of answers!*Question: What do you wish for Christmas present? -ElinaAnswer: Actually, I don’t want anything. My best gift is that I’ll get to see my own family.*Question: In your opinion, what has been the best thing in living in LA/USA and what do you miss most from Finland? And what has been the biggest culture shock so far? -TikruAnswer: The best in living in LA is definitely the warm weather and food, and there are unbelievably positive people here. Also, good about this city is that there is always something going on and all kinds of things happen here every day.*Question: Are you still planning on making a career in the field of fashion? If yes, in what way? – What is your favorite shop in LA and why? – What is the weirdest thing you’ve eaten in Hollywood? -EllaAnswer: I don’t think I’m going to make a career in fashion even though I am interested in fashion and style. You never know what will happen.. There are lots of good shops in LA, so it’s really hard to name a favorite one. The weirdest thing I’ve eaten here is water snake.*Question: How do you usually spend your Christmas and do you still like knitting? -emmaaAnswer: I’ve spend all my Christmases with my family in Finland. I really haven’t knitted in years, but I think I still have that skill.*Question: Do you still walk a lot? Do you dare to move around by yourself when it’s dark? Have you seen Nordic walkers in LA? -RepekkaAnswer: I do still walk a lot every day and I think it’s absolutely the best exercise! And yes, moving around here even in the night time is quite safe. Of course there are places that it’s wiser to stay away from, but with common sense you manage anywhere. Nordic walkers I haven’t come across here ever.*Question: I would like to know if there are good flea markets in LA? -MiukuAnswer: On Merlose (again he spells Melrose wrong… ) there is an outdoor flea market every Sunday which I have visited several times. I have made some good finds there every time.*Question: Which city do you like more, LA or NY? -SirkkuAnswer: The weather is better in LA and I’ve really grown to like this city. New York is to me still a bit unfamiliar place even though I’ve been there four times. I like NY because moving around there from one place to another is so much easier. However, people are much more relaxed in LA. So, I like both and in the future I want to get more familiar with NY.*Question: What is the most annoying thing in LA? Have you thought about getting more tattoos? Do you want to put some pics of them here on your blog and tell more about them? I know that some people do not necessarily want to talk about their tattoos in more detail. Your favorite places in the whole world? How about favorite places to travel? A place which you have wanted to visit but haven’t been able to so far? Have you missed snow at all? Name some things that are totally normal to you but people there think they are weird? For example some habits? Then, have you thought that something there is totally weird when it’s considered normal there? –SallaAnswer: The most annoying thing is the heavy traffic jams and time is a somewhat unknown factor in this city. I have thought about taking more tattoos but I don’t know yet when. First I should finish the coloring of my sleeve. I don’t like tattoo stories!! I can put some pics here in the blog when I will get a new one or I will finish this hand. My favorite place in the whole world is the home couch!! My favorite places to travel are Barcelona, Paris and New York! I have always wanted to visit Rome. Actually I do miss snow a bit. Here people think that the whole Finland and Finnish language are strange. About habits I’ll say that here no-one eats with knife and fork, everyone uses just fork. You use knife only for cutting the food and then you put it on the table. When you are finished, you don’t put the cutlery at 5 o’clock, you just throw them around the plate. That was the first exception I noticed. There are lots more of them and I can write a longer blog about them sometime.*Question: What’s the best movie you’ve seen lately? -lennuAnswer: The Help*Question: Do the people there know where Finland is and what it’s like here? Have people asked these funny questions from you, like “do you have polar bears there?” Are you often asked to say something in Finnish, and what do you say when asked? Do you still eat sandwiches and do you have a cheese-slicer? Have you gotten into Sauna there and was it allowed to throw water on the stove? -MiiAnswer: People do pretty much know where Finland is. No-one’s asked polar bear questions… People living here really don’t know that much about Finland and they are always amazed when I tell them about our long winter and short summer. I’ve been educating these people quite well already! I’ve been teaching Finnish to lots of people here and usually I always teach the same sentence to everyone: “minä rakastan sinua”. Many people can’t pronounce our r-sound. Teaching Finnish is about the most fun entertainment there is!! Thanks for asking! I thought I could someday make a street gallup of my own about this. I don’t eat sandwiches and I don’t have a cheese-slicer. I haven’t gotten into Sauna and that’s a thing I miss very much.*Question: Have you had trouble with measuring units there? They do have for examples miles instead of kilometres, and feet and inches… I myself would probably be totally lost with those! -MiisaAnswer: I can tell you that I still don’t understand a bit about those measuring units… I should probably start learning about them one day. Hah! *Question: Would you take a job as a host in TV-show if you were offered one? Or have you perhaps been asked some time? -JomppeAnswer: Sure I would and who knows, maybe I will be hosting something in the future…*Question: How many times a week do you excercise? What do you do (jogging/gym)? Then, what kind of a diet to you follow? You are in such a good shape! What’s the funniest experience you’ve had while living abroad? Have you had situations where the language barrier has been insuperable? Where do you want to spend New Year’s Eve this year? In Finland? -JenniAnswer: I exercise about 4 – 5 times a week. I run and go to gym. I love food and I’ve never followed a specific diet. Of course, during the week I try to eat versatile and wholesome food. Sunday is dedicated for stuffing myself with junk food. I fumble around so much everyday that I’m a walking incident myself. I do still have problems with the language, but it’s starting to get pretty good already. I still don’t have any plans for New Year.*Question: Have you had any earthquakes there? You had a storm there a couple of days ago. Did that one cause you problems? How about Christmas goodies, are they very different from the Finnish ones? Christmas dishes at least are somewhat different, I think. –kuuAnswer: No, there haven’t been earthquakes but we’ve had some bad storms. Three days ago we had such a horrible storm outside that I was totally freaking out in panic. There were power cuts in many places and the roads were full of fallen trees. I don’t know anything about American Christmas goodies since I’ve never spent Christmas here…*Question: Have you found new Finnish friends there? Do you ever feel lonely or homesick? –WLFAnswer: I’ve found many Finnish friends. Sometimes I feel homesick, but not so strongly that I’d like to live in Finland right now. This is a good place to be.*Question: What is the best thing in Christmas? Would you like to get to design clothes again? And then a “funny” story that came into my mind: a couple of years ago in some interview you were hoping to get a big freestanding full size mirror with lamps going around the frame, do you remember ? Do you have one of those now? Wishing you everything good and eagerly waiting for the next “calendar door” to open. –LenaSAnswer: Best thing about Christmas is food and family! Designing clothes is not exactly my thing, even though I do like to give a lot of thought to dressing up. I don’t recall talking about that sort of a mirror, but I guess I have to get one now since I’ve wanted to have one sometime .*Question: You’ve told once that you like cleaning and arranging places, even so that your friends tease you about walking around with a washcloth in your hand. Do you clean also there in Hollywood? –JustmeAnswer: I love cleaning!!! I still walk around with a washcloth in my hand and arrange places. I just cleaned the kitchen.*Question: I thought I’d ask you, now that you’re spending Christmas in Finland, who are you going to spend it with? (obviously at least with your godson). I would also like to ask that when you said in some interview in Ilta-Sanomat that you own at least 50 pairs of jeans, where can you find enough room for all your clothes? (yes, I actually have thought about that) haha –BrokenAnswer: I’m spending my Christmas with my family. I do own 50 pairs of jeans and I’ve bought at least 30 pairs more while living here. Neatly folded clothes fit anywhere.*Question: Have you noticed if you’ve started to think in English or that you see dreams in English? And then again, when you speak Finnish you can’t find some words and you have to say them in English. Does this sound familiar to you? This has happened to me and actually kind of “scarily” fast when I was away from Finland for a longer time. What do you do when you are feeling really homesick, or actually missing Finland? As your home is now there… What Finnish food you miss most and do you cook Finnish food? –AnneAnswer: I have actually noticed that many times I’m thinking in English. I do have quite a lot of Finnish friends here, too, so my Finnish hasn’t gotten rusty. When I get homesick I call to Finland . I miss Finnish rye bread, milk, mashed potatoes and meatballs!! YUM!!*Question: Have you ever played Santa Claus at Christmas? -KirsiAnswer: Hah! I’ve played Santa many times!!*Question: What is the strangest animal you’ve seen in America? –GlitterAnswer: Opossum*English:Question: How good is your partner’s new album?! So desperate to hear it! -BethAnswer: It’s amazing!! Really good!!

**

Also, you’ve asked about my site and given a lot of praise to it (thank you for that) and also mentioned Min and Zia (edit: actually Mia and Zinnia, LOL) who are translating my blogs to English. Speaking about that, I’d like to add still something here…

English:Min & Zia, thank you! Like I’ve told in my blog’s front page, I plan to have some more content in my web page in the future and also provide an option to my readers to choose the language between Finnish and English. But as you all probably understand, running this page and writing the blog is a huge task and translations and improvements require more resources than I have at the moment. So I’m really glad someone is so kind and translates the text until I have a chance to have my page in two languages. Thank you so much for the help, for the interest and for the patience! This all makes me really humble, you all are amazing and it feels unbelievable! Still I have to run my page and build it up step by step, but I want to let you know that I’ve got some improvement plans and dreams for the page in the future… Hopefully we’ll get there someday, some year! We’ll see! Anyway, now it’s a blog and in my own language and I hope you all enjoy it as much as possible!

Also, I have to point out that I’ve not created this site all by myself. I like to write a blog and this really is my thing, but I do get some help as well! If you look at the bottom of the page, you see links to the peeps that help me. KWD Digital in Helsinki has three talented T’s who help me: Teemu designed and did the gorgeous layout, Timo handled the technical stuff and Tommi does the daily moderation and designs and develops the site little by little. HYPR Agency’s Sanna helps me with all sort of contacts and is my link to Finland, and is sparring me almost daily from Finland (or in Finnish time – almost every night) and we plan and develop things together. Whoa, thank god I have help, there are so many visitors to the site that I really wouldn’t be able to handle all the technical stuff by myself. A big thanks to all of you for your support! It’s fun to write!

But even though I have all this help this really is my very own thing and really looking like that too which is absolutely great! Yay!! Hopefully we’ll be able to develop the site further one of these days, but let’s not go ahead of things yet but just concentrate on this blogging in Finnish for now. .. There are still many doors in the Christmas calendar to be opened!

Here we had now answers to some of the questions and some well earned thanks too. However, the biggest thanks I’d like to give to you, my readers – without you I’d be just writing this all just for myself. Without readers this whole thing would be so dumb and boring!

In the future I’ll write down the most interesting questions and answer to them about once a month. Tomorrow I’ll tell you more about yesterday’s Finnish party…. Yay!!

xoxo

/S

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Whoa! What an Independence Day Celebration we had on Tuesday! I’m still all dizzy about how many Finns I met there. It’s pretty weird to see 150 Finns at the same place around here. The actual party took place at the upscale neighborhood of Bel Air and I can tell you, I would move there right this minute! They were serving wonnnderful Finnish food! Yum! I just about fainted when I saw meat balls, mashed potatoes, and ahh, Karelian pastries at the buffet!! For drink they were serving traditional Koskenkorva vodka. Hah! The bar was just a bit crowded…

I met some absolutely wonderful people at the party! I was all excited when the Consul General of Finland in Los Angeles, Kirsti Westphalen herself told me that she is reading my blog. Awesome!! Thank you so much, Kirsti, for this incredible party! More of these and Finland to the glory! I really have to start to think about ways to promote Finland and Finnish culture more here in the USA. Hmm… I’m all open for good ideas.

Tomorrow I will shock you with the ”weird” hair styles. Yay!Check the photo gallery from the party here: http://finntimes.com/

xoxo

/S

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Hi, I’ve been really busy here, so I can't complete the hairstyles until for tomorrow’s blog… But for today I dug up from the archives an article from a couple of years ago which tells about my life before, and also about my plans for 2013… so, have a good laugh at this!

So, we’ll see, if I will end up in a mental hospital, hah!!

I’ll try to find out later where and when this was published. I’ll let you know then!

Now, until tomorrow! Hair styles coming, I promise!

xoxo

/S

Text in the article (Article is from Etelä-Suomen Sanomat from 2008):

Five-year plan Sauli Koskinen

2003I was studying Communication at the vocational school in Riihimäki. A prolonged vacation at the Canary Islands froze my studies. My intention was to stay there for a week, but I ended up staying there for six months. I lived in a dormitory, until I moved to a joint apartment with a couple of Finnish girls. I was bussing and waiting in a bar. The restaurant culture was totally different from Finland. At work, I could toss down a drink or two myself. This stretch taught me independence and English. After I returned to Finland I moved on my own to Helsinki and got a job at a hamburger restaurant.

2008It’s been a year since I won the Big Brother. It has been the best one of my life. I’m traveling around Finland with my co-host Niko almost every weekend. We are hosting a video show. This experience will gain us some professionalism. We have found our own style and are not talking on each other anymore. The bar gigs are especially demanding. You have to be quick while you’re performing in front of a drunken audience, otherwise they’ll get bored and comment back to you. I have taken all the jobs offered and hosted even while being sick. It would be fun to combine performing and my love for fashion.

2013My friends have dragged me into a mental institution. This is what I got when I wasn’t smart enough to take some time off for myself. Five years of fanatic touring has made me hypochondriac and depressed – something totally different from what I am by nature. At first I was babbling out gig speaks to total strangers on the street, then I locked myself into my home and started drinking. In the institute, I’m living in a padded room. I hear voices and barely sleep. I barely understand my own state, but there is still hope. My nervous breakdown is not terminal.

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Hello!! Here you have now some of my hairstyles from the past years. Oh my God how even I myself am horrified when I look at these old pics. Hah!

I remember like yesterday the day when I wanted to dye my hair blue. As best as I remember, I was 13 years old at the time and already then I wanted to stand out in a crowd. All the clothes had to be from a skate boarding shop and that wonderful smurf hair was accentuated by a Fila sunvisor and yellow sunglasses. In other words, totally COOL!!

After I got rid of the blue hair, I wanted to have dreadlocks. At the time they were something totally fabulous and I was sooooo excited about them!! I remember having saved money for them all by myself and that they cost 500 old Finnish marks. From there on for two years I was walking around as a dreads-headed troll. Every once in a while the dreads were blond, every once in a while dark, and finally blue again… My parents must have been really proud of me at the time. Haha!!

I can say that during my life I’ve gone through all hair styles. My hair has been red, green, blue, yellow… etc… I’ve had long back hair, curly one, straight one, extensions, buzz cut, mohawk… etc…

I can keep the same hair style for one year at the most. Now my project is to let my hair grow a bit, but definitely not to a very long model.

You can write hints to me about what hairstyle would be the most suitable for me??

On Christmas when I come to Finland, I want to dig out all old photos of me and then I’m going to post them here. You can be sure there have also been fashion styles for every occasion, too!! Whoah!!

Have a super-wonderful weekend, you all, equally!!

xoxo

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Janica just won the Finnish Big Brother 2011! Congratulations! I will analyze this later in detail in Tutka!

Jeez, it feels like it’s been ages since those times, and sure it has. Even though in honor of the Finnish BB finale I’m reminiscing my own BB year, it really isn’t a part of my life anymore, but sure, it is a great experience from my past that opened doors to me and created friendships. I hope that Janica also in her life will experience only good things as a result of the victory, as I did!

Here are some memories from my BB times:

Interview with BB-winner Sauli Koskinen (from 2007)

Big Brother 2007 Sauli

Sauli wonderchild

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Today it is Saint Lucia’s day in Finland. I realized that I know practically nothing about it! I guess Lucia is some kind of a maid of light? If I recall right, Lucia brings light into the darkness, and it sure is dark all day and night long in Finland right now! So there is definitely need for a Lucia, hah!!

However, what I mostly remember about this day is that in the first place it is celebrated among the Finnish-Swedes, yes? I was thinking about that how many people abroad even know about Finland having two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. And isn’t it funny that in spite of that, Swedish isn’t really spoken except by the Swedish-speaking Finnish-Swedish themselves, but on the other hand, everyone knows English! Just like me. Still, in my case it has been a pretty good thing that I know more English than Swedish. But surely I could have met some more of Swedish speaking life style even in my home country!!! It probably would be a good thing if all Finns knew more Swedish, too. But I would probably just stutter!!! Hah

But it is great that we in Finland are so international that we do know different languages in general!! I wonder if people in Finland know English so well because TV-programs and movies are never dubbed? Whoah, thank God they aren’t! It’s nicer to hear the lines with the actors’ real voices!

Right, now we got a bit distracted from that Lucia. I found this newslink here and yes, for sure Lucia is bringing light to the darkness. It’s funny how I’ve never been interested in going and following the Lucia celebration but while I’m here abroad looking at those pictures, it came to my mind that it would have been nice to see that, too. But what on earth, they are saying in that article that there is no snow in Helsinki?!? Now hurry up and get some snow there or I’ll stay here and keep on sunbathing!

xoxo

/S

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Last week I went to see animals that are in desperate need of help. The place is located about a half an hour’s drive away from LA. This place is not actually a zoo but it is a place where starving and wounded animals are being helped. There were about 420 animals in this place. Oh how my heart almost burst when I was looking those sooooo cute furry faces. I really started feeling like I was in a real jungle. You can just imagine what kind of noise 420 animals make… whoah!! My absolute favorites were the wolves who came right in front of me to play just like dogs. Also, it was a really cool feeling to get to pet a real lion. I could have watched these animals for hours. At least I myself want to start helping these wonderful animals, and I’m going to try visit and say hi to my new furry friends every once in a while.

Hello! Many of you have asked if I get homesick. Well, I guess you always miss people, family and friends, when you are separated from them, even if you are in a happy place with other wonderful friends or even if you are not very far away!! It will be so nice to see some of my old friends soon! I’ve been watching here all these videos and such, and I ran into these… Here are some clips from which you can see what my friendships are like. I don’t have videos of all of my friends, though!! By the way, that Tutka from last spring tells you also a little bit about what other things might be expected on my trip to Finland, hah!!

For pictures go to Sauli's original blog (link above). Please also, feel free to leave comments to Sauli on the siteSo now it’s time to head back to Finland! I’m just so excited and nervous about it. It’s been suuuuuuuch a long time since I’ve been there the last time. I’m not getting anywhere with this packing either, since all I have here is summer clothes. I was just thinking if I will manage there with just a leather jacket or should I run out in this last minute haste to buy some kind of a winter coat? I’ve been packing for about an hour now and all I’ve managed to get into my suitcase are a couple of pairs of socks and a knitted cap… Oh, well! My head is spinning and my stomach is in knots… This is getting a way more difficult than I thought it would. I’ve always hated packing and I leave that all so to the last minute. I still have half the Christmas presents to buy and million things to take care of. Whoah! What is it with those Christmas presents that you can never buy them in time but in the last week and in a terrible rush. I guess a lot of you have the same problem?? Even though Christmas is a peaceful time, the week before it is something totally different!! I’m already freaking out about all the hullabaloo of next week!

However, it is wonderful to come and visit Finland and to see my family and friends! So off I go packing, about 20 hours of traveling and the jet lag caused by the 10 hour time difference… Finland, here I come!xoxo

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

whew!! Christmas in Finland has been well and truly celebrated and I'm back in sunny Los Angeles! Christmas in Finland with my family was so lovely. My family's Christmas traditions have continued pretty much unchanged through the years, like I'm sure is the case with most families. The list goes somewhat as follows: Christmas porridge, Christmas sauna, candle-lighting at the cemetery, Christmas dinner, Santa's visit, opening presents, and then more food and hanging out. hah!

I'm a little bummed about the weather we had in Finland... I was so looking forward to seeing snow, but it rained all week and the grass remained green. Maybe I'll see snow again next Christmas. :( I ate an insane amount of food over Christmas. hah!! It's not even funny how much a person can eat over two days. All the Finnish delicacies tasted so good I could hardly bear it. My companion really liked Finnish food. The absolute number one were Karelian pies with egg butter, and meatballs. These aren't exactly traditional Christmas foods, but I always make 150 meatballs for Christmas. I didn't miss out this year either, and now I hve to make them here in LA as well. I was told they were that good...

And it was soooooo amazing seeing my beloved sisters and friends again. My best Christmas present was seeing my dear nephews! The three of them had gotten to be such big boys over the past six months. I almost teared up when I saw their happy faces. It's only when you live halfway across the world that you realize how important your loved ones are. I got so much energy from the entire week, I feel like I can go on again for a long time. Now looking forward to the new year and getting ready to make new year's resolutions.

Till next week!

xoxo

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Christmas is over and I'm back home in Hollywood! I'm over the jet lag and back on California time. I have to admit it was so lovely to come back to sunlight after all the rain in Finland. After all, we're in December and the temperature is 26 C. Not too shabby!! I even managed to burn my shoulders in the sun today. wow!! It's amazing how much the sun affects us humans. I feel like I have so much more energy after coming back. I miss Finland, my friends and my family a lot, but it was sooooo good to come back home. I have a very strong feeling that this is where I'm supposed to live.

I've spent the past three days just getting over the jet lag. Today, in fact, was the first time I ventured out. I went out to eat and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It was sick!! I liked the first movie a lot, but this one was even better. Strongly recommended!! I'm sure it's out in Finland too?? After the movie, I drove to the roof of the parking garage to admite the city and the sunset.

Now to look forward to New Year's and hope for an even better next year. I have no plans for New Year's yet, but really all you need is the best possible company.

xoxo/S

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Yesterday we were with a big bunch of people in the Lucky Strike bowling hall in Hollywood to celebrate Adam’s brother’s birthday. I love bowling!! My game started nicely with a full strike, but then the rest of the game was almost pure gutter balls… Bowling is an awesome sport because you don’t have to know how to do it but much of it depends on the luck. Of course there are also those professional players who have their own tactics and tricks. It was also fun to see yesterday how amazingly different styles people have for bowling. This is one sport that really shows your personality.

Now my whole right arm and lower back are stuck, but it doesn’t matter because it was worth it. If you are thinking about a good way to spend an evening with your friends, you must definitely go bowling!!

New Year is approaching… yay!!

xoxo

/S

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Hello!! I think everyone's aware by now that I'm having a healthy January. I don't even get to go to the grocery store any more without every tabloid writing about it... ”cockatoos at the grocery”. The question is, who's actually interested in what people buy at the grocery store?? Sauli and Adam's shopping cart was filled with apples, bananas, spinach, carrots, and bottled water... WOW this is so newsworthy!! hahaha!! I think it's funny, but you're welcome to grocery-watch any time you want... I'm excited myself to see what I end up buying next time.

Now that you know what all was bought, I'll give you a good recipe. ”carrot burgers” Mix 1dl milk and 2 tbsp bread crumbs and let them sit for a while. Add 5-6 grated carrots and 2 eggs. Season to taste. Mix well and check the taste. Shape into patties and fry over lowish heat, if the batter is too liquidy I can't help it... hah!! But I can promise you they'll be good!!

Here's another tasty, cheap and healthy breakfast. A warm spinach salad with sauteed bell peppers, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms. Serve with a couple of fried eggs and pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top – voilà!!

All this healthy living and daily exercise has really paid off. My mind is alert and I have enough energy to power a small village. It's funny, when you get to this space, you don't want it to ever end. But I'm not trying to set myself up as an example, I have my vices. I have to admit the Fazer ”Blue” chocolate I brought from Finland calls my name from the kitchen cabinet every day. I've gotten into it a few times... arrrgh! It's great that so many of you have written to tell me you've started exercising and eating better. Thank you for all the lovely messages! It's motivating me to keep up a healthier lifestyle. I think we all dream of living our lives healthy and happy. All of us want our loved ones health and happiness, too. These are the most important things in life and I'm sure all of us can make a difference one way or the other.

Okay, I'm starting to sound like some kind of a preacher now. Don't be alarmed, it's still the same old Sauli, just high on carrots... hah!!

I've decided to dedicate this January to living a healthier lifestyle than I ever have before! I'm always pretty particular about what I put in my mouth and I've been consistently trying to eat healthier the past few years. But this time, I'm going to try and make it a real challenge for myself and only eat healthy stuff. (fewer carbs, lots of protein, lots of vitamins, and looooooots of water) I'm going to go for a 30-40 minute jog every day and do a gym workout. Ha!! That should get rid of whatever remains of the feasting over Christmas! Many Finns compensate for all the partying in December by having a ”dropless January” – meaning not a drop of alcohol for a month. I'll be staying away from the bottle as well and detoxing my whole body. I feel sure I'll be a completely new person after this!

Of course living healthy this January doesn't mean I'm only going to live healthy one month out of the year, hah!! It's more a question of a healthy lifestyle overall. I know I've spoken openly about my partying and my love for hamburgers, and that's just human – sometimes you just have to overindulge and let your hair down and not be so uptight. But whenever I overdo it with the partying, or eat some junk food, I feel like the whole world hears about it, which is kind of crazy when you think about it because my normal lifestyle is a very healthy one generally. And not just in January either, hah!! But it's nice to start off the new year by taking even better care of yourself, as long as you're not just making new year's resolutions you can't keep, but making actual changes that really become part of your life!

I started jogging actively about three years ago and it's become a habit. I actually get cranky if I don't get to go out for a run. Starting a new sport, or any kind of exercise, is often difficult for all of us. I remember when I started jogging it felt so tiring at first and it was really easy to come up with excuses for not going out. I think this is familiar to many of us? You have to make exercise a part of your life and not just a compulsion to get out there and do something. Once you get to that level, nothing can stop you! I don't even think about jogging anymore, it's become a way of life and a daily routine. I believe all of us have an hour, or even half an hour, available for exercise every day. There are any number of excuses and I can't say I haven't used some of them at some point. I'm not trying to make myself out to be this great athlete, but based on my own experience, I want to encourage everyone else to exercise. Daily exercise is the best tonic for the mind for all of us! And it'll hardly hurt anyone.

I started today off with an omelet and fried spinach. To drink, I made a super smoothie with the following: Coconut water, mango, pineapple, apple, goji berries, acai berries, wheatgrass, barley grass, alfalfa, kale and maca. If this doesn't get the day off to a good start, I don't know what will? Hah! Dinner is lean meat and vegetables. In the evening, a cup of herb tea with fresh mint leaves. Not too bad!! That'll be my diet for the month. We'll see what kind of change it brings about. Yay!!

xoxo/S

P.S. This was a topic I got from the questions you guys posted. You've posted so many great questions and I'll be answering some of them in more detail towards the end of the week. Yay!! I'll probably end up writing whole blog posts on some of the other topics as well.

Hello! It's turning out to be an interesting week... There've been my own photo shoots, paparazzi pics, superfood and surprises. As you've seen from the new pic that's making the rounds, I've been doing some modeling for magazines. I've had a few days' worth of shoots and I hope the pics turned out good. Yay!!

Tomorrow, I'm going to have a surpriseguest over!! I'll reveal who it is in tomorrow's blog!! We'll be going over to Universal Studios to play, I can promise you that much.

xoxo

/S

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

My surprise guest is of course the wonderful, charming, sunny superwoman Kristiina Wheeler!! We had a wonderful day today and went also to the Universal Studios. I’ve been there three times before and I’m still not bored with that wonderful world of fun. I did a little trick to Kristiina and took her to the House of Horrors… It is an absolutely horrible haunted cave where real people dressed up as monsters and zombies are scaring the visitors. Naturally I knew this because I’d been there before, but I didn’t tell Kristiina. Also, the best thing here was that earlier today Kristiina had said that she can’t even watch horror movies. Embarrassing… HAHAHAHAHA!! Well, as the result I almost got my hand broken during the game when Wheeler grabbed it a little bit harder. WHEH!

We also went to play an arcade game where I luckily won a little penguin which I gave to Kristiina as a present. I got my terror trick forgiven with that. Yes!! Kristiina named her new friend Michael.

Today was absolutely superfun and I’m going to miss you very much, Kristiina!!!

xoxo

/S&K

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

Well! This week, I've gone and seen a couple of well-known TV shows. On Tuesday, I was at the Jay Leno Show and it was really interesting to see this famous talk show live from the audience. Of course Jay Leno looks exactly the same live. Jay Leno is known for his hobby of collecting old cars and driving them to work himself. I spotted his car in front of the studio and it was a ride unlike any I've ever seen before. He probably got it from the Stone Age. He's also known for his style - he always wears jeans and a denim shirt. Before the show, he warmed up the audience in the denim outfit he's so well known for. hah! Wearing all denim is not the best stylistic choice to my mind, but to each their own. Of course he wore a suit for the actual broadcast.

The guests at the talk show were actors Sam Worthington and Sherri Shepherd, and the musical guest was the reason I was at the show to begin with. Sam Worthington seemed really nervous throughout the show. I think it was because he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt that was hideous and way too small. It was really difficult to focus on what he was saying, because he was constantly pulling down his shirt. I was quite taken aback by his choice of shirt. Otherwise, he's a very handsome man. Sam is known to everyone from the movie Avatar and he said on the showthat the shooting is about to start for the new Avatar movie. This is great news!! I can't wait!!

I didn't really know anything about the other guest. Actress Sherri Shepherd. Never heard of her, but she seemed like an easy-going sort of lady and her stories made everybody laugh. She had a great presence on the show and I really liked that. She kept talking and talking and nobody could stop her. hah!!

The jewel in the crown of the evening, however, was an amazing vocal performance. Thank you for that, my love!!

And today, I went to see the Ellen Show. I've always loved Ellen and have watched her show on TV almost daily. You have to dance like whoa there. My legs are cramping and my arms are aching from all the flailing around. 20 minutes before the show there's a legit dance party, and every commercial break you have to get up and dance. WHOA I say!! I won't feel the least bit guilty skipping tomorrow's jog.

And of course I told my Tutka wife Katri that Colin Firth was going to be a guest on the show, but he wasn't there... woops!! He was on yesterday's show. However, Rob Lowe was there, and he's just as good an actor. I know Katri's going to be so disappointed, but I like Rob Lowe better so I don't mind, hah!! Sorry Katri dear!

The other guest/musical act was a singer well known to even me. Well, to cut straight to the chase... Ellen was very interested in hearing about our visit to Finland... It was truly fun sitting there in the audience, having a huge camera wheeled in front of my face and some production lady wielding one of those cone-shaped microphones getting all up in my business. It was a very near case of lockjaw, but luckily I made it through... omg!! Still, it must be a little more uncomfortable being a guest yourself... Also Ellen really dug my hairstyle and said she's going to get hers cut just like mine. Coolness!!!

That's all the fun news for this time!!

Until next time then, and I'll have a new blog up on my peronal site soon as well!

xoxo

_________________"...you're the only one that knows me better than I know myself... " ~ Adam Lambert from his upcoming 'Trespassing' album

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